LAP OF SILENCE AT VELODROME HONORS DUNN

Forty-four cyclists lined up single file against the front straightaway rail Tuesday night at the San Diego Velodrome. Then one by one they pushed off, no one uttering a word.

The only sounds were cyclists’ cleats clicking into clips, chains humming against cogs, the wind whirring off disc wheels.

The lap of silence honored Jackie Dunn, a 32-year-old amateur cyclist who crashed at the San Diego Velodrome Association’s weekly racing exactly one week earlier.

Dunn, who lived in Clairemont, died one day later. The cause of death was cranial trauma.

Dunn’s death is believed to be the only fatality in the 37-year history of the velodrome, which is tucked into the east side of Balboa Park.

After much debate, the club decided to race one week after Dunn’s death.

“It’s what she would have wanted,” said Durward Dunn, Jackie’s husband of nearly eight years. “Her favorite thing to do during the week was to race at the velodrome. You see pictures of her smiling before the races. She liked racing, and she liked the people.”

Cycling fatalities are not rare.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, in 2011 there were 677 cycling deaths in the United States. Another 48,000 cyclists were injured in vehicle accidents.

But because there are no cars or pedestrians on a bike track, deaths on a velodrome are scarce.

“I’ve never heard of one,” said Shaun Wallace, 51, a two-time track cycling Olympian for Great Britain and a San Diego Velodrome Association board member.

U-T San Diego research found just two track cycling deaths in the last 28 years.

Tim Jackson, a regular at the Tuesday night races, witnessed Dunn’s crash. Jackson said Dunn was riding in a pack coming out of the fourth turn when Dunn’s front wheel overlapped with another rider’s and they collided.

“It looked like she directly landed on her head or face with full impact,” said Jackson.

But Jackson added: “Her crash looked like any other we see on the track. It didn’t look like that kind of crash that would be severe, much less fatal. A lot of us are trying to come to terms with the stark reality of what happened.”

“It’s just a completely weird, freak, random racing accident,” said Andrew Lee, who owns Adams Avenue Bicycles and regularly races at the velodrome.

Dunn’s death shocked the tight-knit amateurs who show up once a week to put the stress of work behind them.

Dunn wore a bright pink racing helmet and Tuesday night one of her mentors, Trina Jacobson, handed out pink bracelets. Jacobson painted nine of her fingernails turquoise and one orange. Dunn rode for the Crank Cycling team, which chowcases those colors.

Jacobson, who was one of only four women competing at the beginning of Tuesday’s races, said deciding to ride one week after her friend’s death wasn’t difficult.